Men's Soccer

No. 14 Broncos Host Saint Louis In Men's Soccer Action Friday Night

Sep 05, 2006

Sept. 5, 2006

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -
For the third time in the last four seasons, the Santa Clara men's soccer team carries an unbeaten mark through the first four games of the season. This Friday night, the No. 14 Broncos will put their 3-0-1 record on the line against the No. 24 Saint Louis Billikens in a 7 p.m. match at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Tickets to the match are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by clicking here.

Last weekend the Broncos captured the UC Irvine College Classic title with a pair of wins over Northwestern and Niagara University. SCU got healthy contributions from both its veteran and rookie players, as freshman Jeff Cosgriff netted a pair of goals and was named tournament MVP, and senior Erik Ustruck recorded a pair of assists in Monday's 4-1 win over Niagara.

Following Sunday's win, Cosgriff, Igwe, Ustruck, Peter Lowry and Stephen McCarthy were all named to the All-Tournament team for their superb play, demonstrating the smooth transition of the talented young newcomers with the experienced veterans of the team.

"The veterans are key for us because they are the ones who have been there, they are the ones with experience and who are going to have to integrate them into a system that could be very successful for all," Rast said of the team's veterans' roles in continuing to help build the freshmen. "The veterans have been great so far this year, not only contributing to our results, but even more so, it is the day in and day out training and experience that they are trying to lend to the younger guys that makes them more valuable."

No. 24 Saint Louis (1-1-1) will head out to the West Coast for their first meeting with the Broncos since the 1982 season. The Billikens claimed the Indiana adidas Classic last weekend with a 5-1 victory over No. 16 Connecticut as senior midfielder John DiRaimondo scored a pair of goals and added a pair of assists en route to being named Atlantic-10 Player of the Week.

"Saint Louis is such a good team, and could give us all we can handle, even at home, so I think we know that this is an important game for us, a good chance to test ourselves against a quality opponent," Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast said. "This will be our third ranked opponent of the season, and every game is important to us, especially the ones at home. We want to play well in front of our fans."

Following this weekend's single contest, the Broncos will travel south to the Los Angeles area to take on two more ranked teams in UCLA and CS Northridge.